Bryan Ivie had 22 kills as the USC men's volleyball team defeated Ohio State, 15-7, 15-7, 16-14, before a crowd of 800 Wednesday night at Edison High School. Ivie, a 6-foot-7 outside hitter who played for the U.S. National team last summer, also had three blocks for the top-ranked Trojans (14-1). Middle blocker Jason Perkins, a former standout at Corona del Mar High School, had seven kills and eight blocks for the Trojans, who defeated Ohio State for the 13th consecutive time.

The purging of the Angels continued this week, when the contracts of 12 scouts were not renewed on the order of President Tony Tavares. Bob Harrison, special assistant to the last two general managers, Whitey Herzog and Bill Bavasi, was not rehired. He was a scout for nearly 40 years. Matt Keough, the club's advance scout, Dave Garcia, Nick Kamzic, Joe McDonald, Red Gaskill, Hal Keller, Jim McLaughlin and Eusebio Perez, all full-time scouts, were set loose.

Luck of the draw, not scores, will determine the winners of a bowling tournament sponsored by the Huntington Beach/Fountain Valley Assn. of Realtors for the benefit of the Christmas CanTree community food drive. The tournament is scheduled from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Wednesday at the Fountain Bowl, 17110 Brookhurst Ave. Jim McLaughlin of Tarbell Realtors said the tournament will be conducted in the "blind partner" style, in which one bowler will be paired with another by drawing lots.

Alec Peters can hear it coming every time someone he meets discovers he has a law degree. The progression of questions begins innocently: Where did you graduate from?" It builds to curiosity: "Did you pass the bar?" It crescendoes with the incredulous: "What in the world are you doing coaching volleyball?" Peters laughs when he recounts the familiar inquiry. "My ultimate goal is to coach with the men's U. S. national team," Peters says.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission on Wednesday expanded a free taxi ride program formerly restricted to residents of riot-torn areas to include needy residents throughout the county. The program, dubbed Operation Food Basket because it provided transportation in neighborhoods where markets had been burned, will now offer residents from Pacoima to El Monte free taxi rides to doctors' offices, food banks, battered women's shelters and other locations 24 hours a day.

The 380,000-member International Union of Operating Engineers likes to tout a history stretching back to the 1890s of bringing skilled labor to construction projects and the operations of large buildings across the nation. But a group of dissident members from the southern reaches of California and Nevada say that proud record has been tainted by union bosses they allege have engaged in embezzlement, kickbacks and intimidation. The insurgents are members of two of the union's biggest units, Locals 12 and 501, which represent a total of nearly 30,000 workers.

The popular Smart Shuttle vans that transport residents of some of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods will make their final run Sunday, ending a four-year pilot program paid for by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA board decided Wednesday to stop funding the service, which carried about 2.7 million riders a year in the San Fernando Valley, South-Central L.A.

Seeking a pass rusher to complement Bruce Smith, the Buffalo Bills on Wednesday signed former Dallas Cowboy Jim Jeffcoat, who will be 34 when he plays his first game for the Bills. Jeffcoat played 12 seasons with the Cowboys and earned Super Bowl rings in two championship-game victories over the Bills. He is the Cowboys' all-time sack leader with 94.5, including eight last season. The Bills signed Jeffcoat to a three-year deal that will pay him a little less than $1 million a season.